Ten Screenplays to Read for Inspiration (Whatever Your Genre)

Ten Screenplays to Read for Inspiration (Whatever Your Genre)

This is by no means a full list, but it’s a start.

If you’re writing Action…

10. Die Hard

A sense of urgency is one of the hardest elements to convey in a screenplay, but Die Hard does it with gusto. It’s also an amazing character piece with elements of drama, family strife, and self sacrifice.

2. Apocalypse Now

Loved by hawks and doves alike, Apocalypse Now is a must read regardless of your feelings about combat. The screenplay is noticeably different than the final cut (Coppola would write on set), but even the working draft is magnificent.

1. Casablanca

There’s no finer screenplay to curl up next to someone and read aloud. The story, the characters, the setting– everything is designed to elicit an emotional response. Amazingly, the original draft had a very different ending, but luckily wiser heads prevailed.

Casablanca deservedly #1. “Every story is an escape story” — while putting my theory to the test I discovered that Casablanca is an escape story thrice over.
1. Characters are escaping a prison or place — Nazi occupied territory. 2. Protagonist escaping a relationship — Rick has escaped to the ends of the earth to avoid any chance he’ll run into the woman who broke his heart. 3. Protagonist escaping himself — Rick will escape his pathetically self-centric belief system or audiences will demand their money back. Does he ever! He becomes almost a saint.